Toxins 2015, 7, 322-336; doi:10.3390/toxins7020322 OPEN ACCESS toxins ISSN 2072-6651 www.mdpi.com/journal/toxins Article Detection of Cyanotoxins, β-N-methylamino-L-alanine and Microcystins, from a Lake Surrounded by Cases of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Sandra Anne Banack 1, Tracie Caller 2,†, Patricia Henegan 3,†, James Haney 4,†, Amanda Murby 4, James S. Metcalf 1, James Powell 1, Paul Alan Cox 1 and Elijah Stommel 3,* 1 Institute for Ethnomedicine, PO Box 3464, Jackson, WY 83001, USA; E-Mails:
[email protected] (S.A.B.);
[email protected] (J.S.M.);
[email protected] (J.P.);
[email protected] (P.A.C.) 2 Cheyenne Regional Medical Group, Cheyenne, WY 82001, USA; E-Mail:
[email protected] 3 Department of Neurology, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA; E-Mail:
[email protected] 4 Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA; E-Mails:
[email protected] (J.H.);
[email protected] (A.M.) † These authors contributed equally to this work. * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-603-650-8615; Fax: +1-603-650-6233. Academic Editor: Luis M. Botana Received: 19 November 2014 / Accepted: 21 January 2015 / Published: 29 January 2015 Abstract: A cluster of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has been previously described to border Lake Mascoma in Enfield, NH, with an incidence of ALS approximating 25 times expected. We hypothesize a possible association with cyanobacterial blooms that can produce β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), a neurotoxic amino acid implicated as a possible cause of ALS/PDC in Guam.